The Letter of Truth
by BananaLollypop
Summary: In which Enjolras goes about things the wrong way, and Gavroche thinks he can do it better. Part 5 in my 'What if... Enjolnine' series. R&R very much appreciated!


**AN: **Yet another installment from little old me! I really enjoyed writing this one, even though there is a lot less Enjolnine-ness in it (like... practically none, and definitely none that's obvious). But this idea popped up and I had to write it and I didn't want it to be a stand alone one-shot because then I would miss an update for this series :P So I tried to add a little Enjolnine in anyway!

Prompt: What is Enjolras received an official letter and Éponine and the other Amis had to fight their battle with a different approach? Enjoy!

* * *

Éponine walked in from yet another meeting with Cosette regarding her blasted wedding. She swore that if she had to so much as look at another bridal gown or bridesmaid dress, she might just go on a killing spree.

Walking in to the apartment, Enjolras seemed to be in a similar state. He sat at the dining table, parchment covering the surface, writing furiously.

"What _are_ you doing?" she asked. As always, Enjolras didn't jump at her sudden interruption, but continued writing.

"I got a letter," he said, "From someone in the government."

"And so you're writing on as many pieces of parchment as possible?" she asked amusedly.

"I'm replying in an angry but controlled manner," he corrected her, "But I can't get the wording right. I'm just making myself seem... well, angry."

"I don't know if I wish to know what the government has done to infuriate the ever stoic Apollo," Éponine chuckled. He help up a letter with his left hand silently, still writing. Éponine raised her eyebrows but walked forwards to take it.

_Monsieur Enjolras,_

_Myself and others in the French government would like to pass on our congratulations for the success of your rebellion in June; many would say we are simply encouraging inappropriate behaviour in the state, but we have ruled that you had a point in regards to the people of France._

_As a result of this, we would like to invite you and your fellow revolutionaries to discuss with us the changes you wish to make in the state. If you could reply with a suitable date and time for you and your comrades, we will arrange a location. _

_Yours sincerely,_

_Bastien Moreau, government official_

She frowned, "And this has annoyed you because..." she questioned.

"'Discuss with us the changes you wish to make in the state'." Was all Enjolras said.

Éponine walked to him and rested a hand on his shoulder, "Apollo." She said quietly, knowing that he occasionally forgot that what made perfect sense to him did not necessarily make sense to others. He stopped writing and looked up at her. His expression was priceless: his eyes were bright with anger and passion, his mouth set in a determined line. This was how he had been when she had fallen from him; in the month and a half since the rebellion, he had seemed... unlike himself. Yes, he was more relaxed and less 'snappy' as Grantaire had put it, which for many of the Amis was a welcome change. But he also seemed lost without his cause, without something to fight for.

"The barricades... the Amis... we did not fight, you did not come to the brink of death, merely for us to 'discuss changes in the state'." He explained, his voice calm and yet so full of love and passion, "I swore to fight for you, to come out alive for _you_... I did _not_ put so many lives on the line for the sake of discussion."

Éponine smiled, "And you are writing a strongly worded letter to..."

"To tell them where they can shove their discussions," he smirked, returning to his writing.

"Dear lord..." Éponine muttered, grimacing, "Just try not to get yourself arrested for... I don't know, treason?!"

"I'll be sure to be polite," Enjolras smiled.

They were interrupted by someone knocking on (or perhaps 'breaking down') the door. Éponine frowned before going to open it, finding Gavroche standing outside grinning madly.

"Gavroche?" Éponine looked confused, "I thought you were staying with Courfeyrac...?"

"Courf's got a _girl_ in his flat!" Gavroche said disgustedly, "An actual girl! I took one look at her and got out as fast as I could!"

"And came... here?" Éponine questioned, "Whilst Enjolras is working? Do you fear for your life, brother?!" Gavroche shrugged, sitting on the sofa.

"What's he writing?"

"A strongly worded letter to the government." Enjolras and Éponine replied simultaneously.

"Why?" Gavroche asked, making a face at how his sister and her boyfriend (not that Enjolras would ever let anyone call him that) replied at the same time; it was such a... couple-y thing to do after all.

"They sent him a letter." Éponine told him, rolling her eyes, "And he feels passionately about it."

"Doesn't he feel passionately about everything?" Gavroche questioned.

"One day you will learn, little Gavroche, that it is the passionate people in life who achieve and the boring people who don't." Enjolras said, once again multitasking to talk whilst he wrote.

"Ignore him, he's grumpy." Éponine told her little brother. For a while they sat in silence, only the sound of the scratching on parchment as Enjolras conducted his letter. Suddenly the writing stopped, and Éponine and Gavroche looked around to see Enjolras sigh and push the parchment away, picking up a fresh piece.

Gavroche got up from the sofa and approached the table, picking up one of Enjolras' failed attempts at contacting the government. Possibly reading a few words that we not at all suitable for a child of his age to read and skipping over a few that he didn't understand, he frowned at Enjolras.

"You're going about this all wrong," Gavroche told him.

"Am I indeed?" Enjolras said wearily, although his amusement at Gavroche's comment still showed through, "And I suppose you could do better?"

"'Course I could!" Gavroche grinned, "You're doing it wrong by writing it from you anyway! We were all fighting there with you! We all want a better France! It was never just you!" Enjolras looked at him thoughtfully.

"You know, Gavroche," he leaned back in his chair, "You may just be onto something..."

* * *

That conversation was what brought all of the Amis to the Cafe Musain that evening for their first proper meeting since the revolution.

Everyone was gathered, talking loudly until Enjolras took his place on the podium. Enjolras was surprised at how at home he felt standing there, and how everyone fell silent the second his presence was recognised. Before he began he glanced over to Éponine, who was smiling at him both proudly and encouragingly. He returned her smile (an action not missed by the other Amis) and started his speech.

"Les Amis de L'ABC," he started, projecting his voice out to the room of people, "That is who we are by name. By nature, we are the people who stood up and started a rebellion against an unfair state for a better France. They said that we would never succeed, that we were walking freely into our deaths. How wrong they were, my friends. For we did not just escape. We rose, we fought with courage and pride, and we won. But now, the government are once again trying to disregard our cause.

"This morning I received a letter, from Monsieur Moreau, an official in the French government. He asked us to 'discuss' with them the 'changes we wish to make to the state'. Well, I say no. We did not suffer through the fighting at our barricades to merely 'discuss' our country's future. We did not put our lives on the line to 'discuss changes'. We stood up to change our country. Not to put the possibility of change in the hands of a government who has harmed our France too many times already." He was met by cheers led by the Amis, all of whom disgusted and empowered by the government's lack of action.

"What do we do Enjolras?"

"Will we fight them again?"

"Are we building another barricade?"

Enjolras held up a hand to stop the flow of questions that was thrown at him. "We will not enter into another physical fight. That is the last resort, and if need be we will turn to it, but _only_ if we have to. What we _will_ do... will be explained by Gavroche." He gestured for the young boy to take centre stage as a flurry of murmurs swept the room. Gavroche had made Enjolras promise that he could tell the Amis his idea; Enjolras had agreed immediately, for it would probably sound better coming from Gavroche anyway. There was something about a child who had suffered so much in life that made people believe in their ideas so much more than had it come from a student.

And so Gavroche coughed loudly to get everyone's attention and explained his ideas with as much, if not more, extravagance than he had when explaining it to Enjolras and Éponine earlier that day.

Everyone looked up at him, mouths gaping as the boy came out with the perfect solution to make the government realise that this was a nationwide event. Éponine looked proudly up at her brother as he spoke, everyone completely captivated by his words. Enjolras smirked slightly next to her.

"You taught him well," he murmured.

"I think he's learnt most of what he's talking about from you, Apollo," Éponine chuckled, "Just listen to him, ranting on up there about how to overthrow the government! I don't know whether to be proud that you've made him passionate about something, or annoying that you've attracted him to such a dangerous cause!"

"Only the passionate achieve in life, 'Ponine," Enjolras said quietly as an answer to her problem.

The people around them erupted in cheers, neither of them having realised that Gavroche had finished talking. Courfeyrac (now unsurprisingly _without_ a girl) and Combeferre hoisted Gavroche onto their shoulders as people chanted his name.

Enjolras watched on, smiling slightly. "Not offended that little Gavroche has stolen your limelight, Apollo?" a still slightly sober Grantaire questioned from the next table.

"This one is all on Gavroche," Enjolras said, holding his hands up as a kind of surrender, "I did nothing to inspire his idea other than go about things the wrong way apparently."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Grantaire laughed heartily as Gavroche basked in the praise from his fellow Amis.

* * *

And so, the next week, Monsieur Bastien Moreau received a letter, his name and address written in Enjolras' penmanship on the front of the envelope. Happy to have received an answer from the blasted revolutionaries so early, he tore it open eagerly, to find something he did not expect to see.

_Dear Monsieur Moreau,_

_I was going to address this letter to you myself, containing my thoughts and suggestions for the days, weeks, months and years ahead of France. Then, I was enlightened by one of my fellow revolutionaries that it is not just I who should be replying to your letter. So, I followed the lead of the revolutionary who enlightened me, letting him take charge. And this is the result:_

_I am Enjolras, leader of Les Amis de L'ABC, revolutionary; I fight for a better France._

_I am Combeferre, revolutionary; I fight alongside Enjolras, for a better France._

_I am Courfeyrac, revolutionary; I fight for a better France and a better future._

_I am Grantaire, revolutionary; I fight with Enjolras because it is better to stand by a friend than to stand aside and watch him die._

_I am Éponine, revolutionary; I fight for friends, family and for love. I almost died trying._

_I am Feuilly, revolutionary; I fight because I know what a revolution can do and I believe in the cause._

_I am Joly, revolutionary; I fight alongside my friends for a better state and to achieve a cause I believe in._

_I am Marius, revolutionary; I fight first for my friends, second for the cause, and third for the love of my life._

_**And I am Gavroche, boy on the street turned revolutionary; this was all my idea, because we're not just fighting for France. We're fighting to help people. And I reckon you forgot that.**_

_The people will not be saved by 'discussing', Monsieur Moreau. They will be saved by a government who does not deal with real life democratically. They will be saved by action._

_Along with this letter, you will find three further pages, on which the people of France will tell you themselves why they believe in the cause. On the final page, is our list of suggestions for you and your fellow government officials. Feel free to 'discuss' with them how you will go about putting these suggestions in place. Perhaps even consult his majesty the King of France. This seems to be the sort of thing he should concern himself with. _

_Vive la France,_

_The Revolutionaries_

* * *

**The letter at the end there was particularly fun to write :) In my word document, all of the different characters' writing was in a different font and it looked pretty amazing, but apparently didn't like it :P Drop me a review if you want to make my day, and don't forget to send me some prompts! I have a few more that I want to write but I need a few fillers in between them and I'm stumped :L Thanks for reading!**


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